It's the captain's fault...

[Truckman]

Or at least they're making him take the fall...

LINK...

Costa Cruises boss Pier Luigi Foschi accused Capt Francesco Schettino of sailing too close to a nearby island in order to show the ship to locals.

"This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa.

"He wanted to show the ship, to [go] nearby this island of Giglio, so he decided to change the course of the ship to go closer to the island."

The captains excuse:

Capt Schettino has denied any wrongdoing, saying the rocks his ship hit were not marked on his nautical chart.

"We should have had deep water beneath us," he told Italian TV. "We were about 300m (1,000ft) from the rocks more or less. We shouldn't have hit anything."

He also denied claims by prosecutors that he left the Costa Concordia before evacuation was complete. "We were the last to leave the ship," Capt Schettino said.

It seems pretty clear he deviated from course on purpose and is responsible......Ben

[Greenie]

There's a lot of stories about this - one thing I heard that the ship had some sort of power failure and the charting equipment may not have restarted correctly. It was a tradition to come close and sound the ship's horn at this location. The Captain may have been drinking. At the very least he was able to bring the ship close enough after hitting the ledge so it didn't sink.

[Billy_Rightwing]

Did you see the hole in the side, what the hell are these things made out of, beer cans?

[Truckman]

Did you see the hole in the side, what the hell are these things made out of, beer cans?

Coors rejects......Ben

[blaze]

Hopefully some of those "free vacation" folks were on there.

[Saggy]

I heard this am on the radio, that that cruise line is owned by Carnival and ever since boats were invented, the Mediterranean Sea has been charted. It's got to be the best charted Sea in the world. Although there may be a lot of bad publicity headed their way, Carnival and all the major Cruise lines have got to be the safest around---as long as they steer clear of the Arabian Sea where it's not the rocks they need to be afraid of.

I'd like to take one through the Panama Canal to see the development of the new developments there.

[Phillbo]

He was doing a pass by of the island for sure .... watch his track :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=aw4pVWYeplU

[Truckman]

I heard this am on the radio, that that cruise line is owned by Carnival.

It seems Carnival has been downplaying the fact that they own the vessel and this was one of their scheduled cruises...One of the few news releases that mentions them says they will take a huge financial loss as they were not insured against lost revenue as others are...All future bookings for this ship are lost and money must be refunded and the lost passengers from their other cruises will be gone...When the inevitable lawsuits are over, they may just be a shell of what they are now......Ben

[Truckman]

The majority owner of Carnival has already taken a huge financial hit from his fortune...

LINK...

More than £500m has been wiped off the paper fortune of the multi-billionaire owner of the company that owns the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia.

Micky Arison, the flamboyant chairman, chief executive and majority-owner of FTSE 100 company Carnival, saw a large chunk of his $4.5bn (£2.9bn) fortune dissolve on Monday as the company's shares lost almost a fifth of their value.

Heck, that would be the equivalent of me losing $100.00 of my accumulated wealth......Ben

[Saggy]

Maybe Bain Capital can jump in there and help him out.

Maybe they could also help you with your "Ventures", Ben. You do venture out of Conroe every now and then to advise our Home Security Dept. with their Gun-running (or -walking) problems.

[Truckman]

Ben. You do venture out of Conroe every now and then to advise our Home Security Dept. with their Gun-running (or -walking) problems.

Unfortunately, Sam, they quit listening to me about the same time I offered advice......Ben

[blaze]

They played the recordings today. He wouldn't go back to the ship and help with the rescue when they pleaded with him to get back on and help. Jail is the right place.

[LawDog]

Evidently, a whole lot of the crew bailed right along with him.....how does an ^%$%$# like that rise to the ranks of cruise ship captain with a reputable line?

[TxMusky]

However it happened, he failed the "stress test".

[Saggy]

Unfortunately, Sam, they quit listening to me about the same time I offered advice......Ben

Yeah. This is the norm for them, Ben.


Things aren't getting any better-----SBA constantly needs "a talking to", but he doesn't listen very good either.